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Did you know there are 6 Korean American Associations in Tennessee?

August 28, 2015

Korea Times project, part 5

Memphis

“There are six Korean American associations in Tennessee, but the Memphis organization is the most active and exemplary,” Seo Yoon-hwan (front right), a former association president, said. Byun Jong-su (front left) is the first, and Choi Byung-il (center) is the current president.

Lee Sun-ok, 65, moved from Los Angeles 20 years ago to open Memphis's first Korean restaurant.

Lee Sun-ok, 65, moved from Los Angeles 20 years ago to open Memphis’s first Korean restaurant.

By James Goo

MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE — Memphis, Tennessee, famous as the birthplace of Elvis Presley and as the city where Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated, lies along the Mississippi River in southwest Tennessee.

About 3,000 Koreans call the city home, according to the local Korean American association.

The first Korean immigrant on record to settle in Memphis, Kim Yeon-ok, arrived in 1962. The numbers grew through the end of the decade to the 1970s, when a Korean church and the association were established.

Byun Jong-soo, 82, the first president of the association, said there were only about 10 Korean families in the city when he arrived some 40 years ago.

“There are six Korean American associations in Tennessee, but the Memphis organization is the most active and exemplary,” said Seo Yoon-hwan, a former association president. He said the city now needs a Korean community center.

The association holds annual events for the anniversary of the March 1 movement, the Korean War and the August 15 Korean liberation day.

Choi Byung-il, association president, said the local Korean American community’s current issues are parallel to those of the entire city: like other mid-sized cities, Memphis is struggling to keep its population of young people, who move away either before or after college to larger markets. The problem also applies to 1.5- and second-generation Korean Americans.

“It’s homework all of us have to work together to solve,” he said.

3 Comments

  1. paul martin

    August 29, 2015 at 2:40 AM

    Koreans should remember (American residents or otherwise) that it is the US that protects Korea NOT the other way around.
    In America thanks to FREE SPEECH which is NOT allowed in Korea or most Asian countries, people can say what they like. If Koreans living in America do not like what Bush or any other American politician sayd then they can always move to wonderful Korea and eat their kimchi !

    Reply

  2. Paul Martin's Seed

    August 24, 2016 at 11:40 PM

    Please die.

    Reply

  3. Korean American New Yorker

    August 24, 2016 at 11:43 PM

    Im moving to tennessee, inshallah!

    you gonna hate me paul, and everyone like you :-)

    Cant wait to let my presence spank the shit out of you!

    Reply